Saudis To Sweep Gulf Off Kuwait For Iran's Mines

June 24, 1987|By Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has agreed to sweep the waters off Kuwait for mines that Iran may have begun to lay in response to the U.S. plan to escort Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Persian Gulf, diplomatic and congressional sources said Tuesday.

The move was praised by a Reagan administration official, who said it was the sort of cooperation ''we'd like to see.'' Only a day before, the State Department said that Saudi Arabia and the United States were close to an agreement to extend surveillance by Saudi AWACS planes to all the gulf.

Until now, Saudi Arabia has kept aloof from military matters in the gulf, where Iran and Iraq have been at war for nearly seven years. The Riyadh government has refused to let U.S. F-15 fighter jets, which could provide air cover for the tanker escort operation, use Saudi bases.

The Saudis' willingness to sweep the waters off Kuwait, where four tankers have struck mines recently, was viewed as a significant diplomatic and symbolic signal to the United States, which has run into difficulties in gaining support for its gulf policy among its traditional allies.

The administration's escort plan, designed to underscore U.S. determination to keep open gulf waters used to carry oil from the region, has been attacked at home and abroad. The policy has raised fears of risk to U.S. forces, particularly after last month's Iraqi attack on the Navy frigate Stark, which killed 37 sailors.

Congressional concerns about the plan were taken directly to President Reagan on Tuesday by Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole and other GOP senators during a White House meeting.